Limpopo man dies after croc attack

A 58-year-old man from Mapikiri in Makhushane has died following a crocodile attack at the Selati River, with his grieving family blaming the current ongoing water crisis in the area that forces residents to rely on the river, reports theLetaba Herald. Majozi Freddy Mundlovu was attacked on February 13, at around 08:00. He sustained severe injuries and was rushed to Maphutha Malatji Hospital, where he later succumbed to his injuries.

He was laid to rest at his home in Mapikiri on February 21. According to Kaizer Mukansi, who helped rescue Mundlovu, the scene was traumatic. When I arrived, people were scared, and no one wanted to go near the water.

I managed to rescue the man with Cobby Malungane, who is also a community member,” said Mukansi. He explained that the crocodile had gripped Mundlovu’s right hand. “I pushed a metal object into its mouth, and it released him, but it then grabbed his leg.

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I pushed it again until it finally let go. We carried him out of the water, and the ambulance took him,” he added. Mukansi said that the late Mundlovu had asked him to visit him in the hospital the following day.

“He insisted that I should come and see him on Saturday, not knowing that it was the last day I would see him alive,” he said. The deceased’s younger brother, Ben Mundlovu, said his brother had gone to the river to bathe, as he had done for months due to a lack of water supply in the village. “If there was water, he was not going to die,” he said.

He claimed that Mapikiri and the surrounding areas have been without running water for more than two months, forcing residents to bathe, wash clothes, and even fetch drinking water from the Selati River. Mundlovu stated that many residents cannot afford to buy water due to unemployment.

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